Secure Resource Management in Cloud Computing: Challenges, Strategies and Meta-Analysis
Deepika Saxena, Smruti Rekha Swain, Jatinder Kumar, Sakshi Patni, Kishu Gupta, Ashutosh Kumar Singh, Volker Lindenstruth
TL;DR
This paper surveys secure resource management (SRM) in cloud computing, classifying cyber threat countermeasures into Defensive, Mitigating, and Hybrid strategies, and evaluates leading models on a common platform using two real VM traces. It provides a comprehensive literature review, a taxonomy of approaches, and a performance comparison across security, resource utilization, power, and active servers, demonstrating that hybrid strategies (e.g., SEDRA, SaS-LM) generally yield the best security–efficiency trade-offs. The study uses real-world data to quantify metrics such as the cyber threat coverage $\$Xi_{CDC}$, resource utilization $\mathrm{RU}_{CDC}$, and power consumption $PW_{CDC}$, highlighting the advantages and limitations of each class. It concludes with open questions and directions, including dynamic threat adaptation, AI-driven threat detection, explainable AI, threat-intelligence sharing, and scalable, resilient SRM frameworks for diverse cloud environments.
Abstract
Secure resource management (SRM) within a cloud computing environment is a critical yet infrequently studied research topic. This paper provides a comprehensive survey and comparative performance evaluation of potential cyber threat countermeasure strategies that address security challenges during cloud workload execution and resource management. Cybersecurity is explored specifically in the context of cloud resource management, with an emphasis on identifying the associated challenges. The cyber threat countermeasure methods are categorized into three classes: defensive strategies, mitigating strategies, and hybrid strategies. The existing countermeasure strategies belonging to each class are thoroughly discussed and compared. In addition to conceptual and theoretical analysis, the leading countermeasure strategies within these categories are implemented on a common platform and examined using two real-world virtual machine (VM) data traces. Based on this comprehensive study and performance evaluation, the paper discusses the trade-offs among these countermeasure strategies and their utility, providing imperative concluding remarks on the holistic study of cloud cyber threat countermeasures and secure resource management. Furthermore, the study suggests future methodologies that could effectively address the emerging challenges of secure cloud resource management.